Corruption In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell

How effectively does George Orwell employ literary techniques to convey the theme of corruption throughout ‘Animal Farm'?

My essay is going to be abut the novel ‘Animal Farm' by George Orwell. I will be discussing how effective George Orwell employs literary techniques to convey the theme of corruption throughout ‘Animal Farm'. ‘Animal Farm' is an allegory of the Russian Revolution. George Orwell uses the animals to portray the idea of communism. The animals represent figures in the Russian Revolution. Also the events in the book resemble major events in the Russian Revolution. In the novel George Orwell is mocking the rulers of Soviet Russia. The 2 battles
in the novel represent the 2 revolutions which took place in Russia. One of the main characters in the novel was Old Major.
He represented Karl Marx, who introduced the whole idea of communism. Karl Marx predicted a rebellion against Tsar Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas II was represented in the novel by Mr Jones. Mr Jones treated the animals unfairly. The animals were unfed and badly treated. Another main character in the novel was Boxer. Boxer represented the workers in Russia. Boxer was always working the hardest out of all of the animals. He was an inspiration to all of the other animals. Even when Boxer was ill he still worked to the best of his ability. Snowball was another of the main characters in the novel. Snowball lead the animals in the Battle of the Cowshed, just as Trotsky lead the Russian people in the first revolution. Snowball was always looking out for the other animals. He Wrote out seven commandments which he expected all the animals to follow and also set up different committees for different types of animals, (Pg 19). Another main character in the novel was Napolean. Napolean represented Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was a ruthless dictator, he exiled Trotsky from Russia and took over as leader. As did Napolean with Snowball. Napolean treated the animals worse than Mr Jones. The animals were given less food and worked longer
hours.

The theme of corruption was portrayed throughout the novel. There are many animals in the book who corrupt and there are a few who corrupt other animals. Such as Napolean corrupts the sheep, Squealer and the dogs. Squealer corrupts the rest of the animals by telling them what they have to do. Napolean corrupted the other animals by making them think that snowball was behind everything which was going wrong on the farm. He also sent the dogs to execute some of the animals, which means that he is violating the sixth commandment. So he decides to have to commandment changed to ‘No animal shall kill any other animal without cause'. Napolean was envious of Snowball so he exiled him from the farm. Napolean's tools for corruption were the dogs who exiled snowball and killed some of the animals, Boxer was used to encourage the other animal to work harder, Moses was used to tell the animals about the reward they would get in sugar candy mountain (heaven) for working hard, and Napolean also used the pigeons to spread communism throughout the farm and neighbouring farms.

George Orwell portrays the theme of corruption throughout the text by using different literary techniques. He uses techniques like irony, characterisation, setting, imagery, tone and allegory when portraying this theme.

George Orwell uses different tones throughout the text to portray the theme of corruption.